Part 13

=The Florentine School=.—One particular characteristic of the Florentine school was a sedulous _avoidance_ of anything like _extended melody_ or definite form. To the composers of this school, music was not an end in itself; it was subordinate to the distinct, _impassioned declamation_ of the poet’s verses. They held that any independent development of musical thought was a weakness; that it tended to distract the attention of the hearer from the drama, and to interfere with its logical continuity. The predominant influence was that of the scholar, not of the musician. This was to be expected from the character of the little coterie interested in the new art-form. The majority were wealthy amateurs, zealous students of the classics and aflame with the desire for the actual revival of the Greek tragedy. Peri and Caccini were the only musicians and they were strongly averse to the contrapuntal music of the day. Its persistently ecclesiastical effect debarred it from expressing the personal feeling which was the object of their research. In the effort to escape its ban, they unwittingly emancipated their art from the control of the Church, and made it accessible to mankind in general. This, therefore, is the great service of the Florentine reformers: the establishment of a purely secular school of music susceptible of indefinite development.

Making allowance for the vast difference in means due to the practical creation of independent instrumental music since the 17th century, their practice was precisely the same as that of the modern composer who writes a music drama and uses the same term to define his work. When _Dafne_ and _Euridice_ first saw the light, however, there was neither knowledge nor experience to point the way; it was found only after a slow and laborious process of experimentation, involving the acceptance of much that was rejected after having served its turn. Though Peri and Caccini with their confrères did not succeed in the end they had in view, they accomplished far more by originating the Opera, the point of departure for the whole modern art of music.

REFERENCES.

Symonds.—The Renaissance in Italy.

Apthorp.—Opera Past and Present.

Grove.—Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Articles on subjects mentioned in this and following lessons.

Streatfeild.—The Opera.

These general works serve for other lessons on the opera.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.

What was the Renaissance?

What was the effect of this idea on music?

What was the origin of Recitative?

What was understood by _Nuove Musiche_?

Who wrote the first opera? What term was applied to this kind of musical work?

Give a description of the early opera.

Give an account of the Florentine school and their fundamental ideas.

Since the beginning of the Opera is practically the beginning of a century, the 17th, it should not be a difficult matter to keep this date in mind. It therefore antedates the settlement at Jamestown, Va., by a few years, making the beginning of American history under English auspices and the Opera coincide.

LESSON XVIII.

THE ORATORIO. DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPERA.

=The First Oratorio=.—The novelty of the new style, which was called the _stilo rappresentativo_ (representative style), the vigor and freedom it gave to an impressive delivery of the text, aroused universal attention. Among the composers who essayed it was =Emilio del Cavaliere= (1550-1599). By applying it to a sacred subject, he originated the Oratorio. Roman by birth, he had passed part of his life in Florence, and though not a member of the _Camerata_, was familiar with its aims and practice.

The germ both of the Opera and Oratorio is to be found in the Miracle Plays or so-called Mysteries of the Middle Ages. These were dramatic representations of _Bible scenes_ or _religious allegories_ by means of which a populace unable to read was taught the great truths of sacred history. Cavaliere’s oratorio, _La Rappresentazione di Anima e di Corpo_ (The Representation of Soul and Body), was given in 1600 in Rome, at the Oratory of the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella—hence its name.

[Music: PASSAGE FROM CAVALIERE’S ORATORIO.]

=Its Characteristics=.—Save for the _nature_ of the _subject_, there was no apparent difference between it and an opera. The allegorical characters taking part appeared in costume and in action. The score even gives directions by which it may be concluded with a dance if so desired. By this, however, dignified and stately movements are understood, in nowise resembling the rapid dance of modern times. The composer in his instructions for performance, which are unusually full and complete, lays great stress upon an expressive delivery of the text, and the swelling and diminishing of the tones by the singers. In vigor and characterization it far surpasses Peri’s and Caccini’s operas. Cavaliere’s death, which occurred ten months before the production of his work, and the great popularity of the Opera, put a stop to the immediate development of the Oratorio; that was reserved for Carissimi a generation later.

=Monteverde=.—The task of taking the opera from the experimental stage and of placing it on the artistic foundation which it now occupies was accomplished by =Claudio Monteverde= (1568-1643), a man of extraordinary genius and originality. A harmonist of surpassing force and boldness, he had always rebelled against the restraints of the contrapuntal school, though, unlike Peri and Caccini, he was skilled in its intricacies. He was viol player in the band of the Duke of Mantua, and had composed masses and madrigals, many of which were severely criticised by the pedants of the day. He joined definite issue with them in his _freedom of treating dissonances_, the distinguishing feature of modern harmony. Heretofore, sevenths, ninths, augmented fourths and the like had never been heard without preparation. Monteverde, however, introduced them without regard to this restriction, little heeding the anathemas heaped upon his head by those who considered his infractions of established rules unpardonable. His ardent, restless temperament, seeking novel modes of expression, often led to wild and extravagant combinations which even today appear harsh and forced. At that time they must have seemed wilful attempts at outraging the ear and the sense of harmonic propriety. These innovations, however, are the cornerstone of modern harmony; of this as well as of the opera, Monteverde is the real founder. What are defects in his church music are excellences in his operas. The discords which disturb the serenity of a religious atmosphere are admirably fitted to produce dramatic effects and powerful climaxes. Monteverde belonged to the stage as his great contemporary, Palestrina, belonged to the church.

=Position of Music in the 17th Century=.—The interest which the success of the Florentine composers would have for a man thus gifted can be readily imagined. Yet he was obliged to wait a number of years for an opportunity to emulate their achievements. Music then was the especial pastime of the great; it was part of the state with which they surrounded themselves. Almost all titled and wealthy families had their own bands of musicians and choirs of singers. These assisted in their private chapels and lent additional eclat to seasons of festivity. Concerts and operas were given only at court or in the palaces of noblemen; public halls for any kind of musical occasion were unknown. A musician or composer could make his way only by attaching himself to a noble house or by securing a patron in court circles. _Dafne_ and _Euridice_ were made possible through the interest and protection of Count Bardi and Count Corsi. The opera was also attended with great expense. The taste of the times demanded an enormous outlay for mounting—costumes, scenery, decorations; only the extremely wealthy could afford it, and they reserved it for occasions of especial importance.

[Music: ARIADNE’S LAMENT.]

=Monteverde’s First Opera=.—In 1607, the marriage of Margaret of Savoy to Francesco Gonzaga, son of the Duke of Mantua, opened the way for Monteverde’s first opera, _Arianna_ (Ariadne), which was received with the utmost enthusiasm. Unfortunately, but a fragment of it remains, Ariadne’s lament after her desertion by Theseus, the most celebrated opera air ever written. In its unprepared discords of the harshest nature, in the poignant expression of grief and despair so at variance with the placid art of the day, this shows how, by a single stroke, Monteverde cut loose from all the traditions of the past. In its less than a score of measures it also anticipates principles of artistic structure which were not formulated for nearly a century later and which hold good to the present day. It is said that it brought tears to every eye.

[Music: RITORNELLO BY MONTEVERDE.]

=His Second Opera=.—The following year he produced his second opera, _Orfeo_ (Orpheus), so called to distinguish it from Peri’s _Euridice_ on the same subject. Though most of Monteverde’s works have been lost, the score of _Orfeo_ has been preserved. It shows a surprising advance over the simplicity of the Florentine operas. First of all, in the great _expansion of the orchestra_. This numbers thirty-seven instruments which throughout are _combined in groups_ and as a whole with an art prefiguring certain effects of orchestration supposed to be purely modern. Like harmony, instrumentation dates from Monteverde. Instead of the customary vocal prologue, it begins with a _Toccata_ (instrumental prelude). The composer’s keen dramatic instinct is shown by the masterly way in which he avoids the monotony of his predecessors; the recitatives are varied by the introduction of _ritornelli_, and each act ends with a chorus and a stately passage for the orchestra. Five years later, the most famous composer of the day, he left Mantua for Venice, where until his death he was director of music at St. Mark’s.

=Monteverde’s Characteristics=.—Monteverde’s greatest service to the opera lay in enlarging the sphere of the orchestra, and in the initiation of a thoroughly instrumental style adapted to the character of each instrument. He increased the number of players and released the orchestra from the subordinate position of being a mere support for the voice by employing it to heighten the dramatic situation. He originated many previously unknown effects, among them the _pizzicato_ and the _tremolo_ of the violins in precisely the same form as used at present. The latter so astounded the players that at first they refused to attempt it, saying that it was impossible. He endowed the Recitative with far greater freedom and depth of expression; under his hand it lost much of the dryness of the Florentine school. His manner of _writing_ for the voice was _declamatory_ rather than melodious; what traces of definite melody occur in his works are generally confined to the instruments, in which he curiously anticipates the practice of latter-day dramatic composers.

=Popularization of the Opera=.—Until 1637 the opera was restricted to royalty and the nobility. In that year the first public opera house was opened in Venice, and such was the popularity of the new amusement that before the end of the century there were no fewer than eleven in that city alone, then with a population of about 140,000. It spread through Italy with almost like rapidity, bearing in its wake an unparalleled development of the art of song.

=Change of Character=.—With its introduction to the people, it was manifestly impossible for the opera to retain its original character. So long as it was confined to the cultivated, the classical ideals of its founders met with intelligent appreciation, but when confronted with audiences drawn from the masses desirous only of being amused, a change was inevitable. Mythological and classical subjects were gradually discarded in favor of those involving intrigue and disguise; comic personages were introduced to enliven the scene. As the dramatic action was thus brought nearer the comprehension of the unlearned, so the music departed from the oratorical standards of the early school, and showed a frank _tendency toward melody_ and _regularity of form_. What was lost in elevation of theme, however, was made up by the human interest imparted to the play and the consequent endeavor of the composer to express, by his music, the varying vicissitudes of life. Thus it gained in warmth of feeling and flexibility in means of expression, while the evolution of rhythmic melody and definite musical structure laid the foundation of the art as we now have it.

=The Venetian School=.—Venice naturally became the centre of an important development of the opera. Of the numerous composers forming the Venetian school, =Francesco Cavalli= (1600-1676) and =Marco Cesti= (1620-1669) are second only in importance to Monteverde. The first was Monteverde’s pupil, and had much of his broad dramatic style modified by the influences of which we have just spoken. Cesti came to Venice from Rome, where he had been the pupil of Carissimi, and brought with him the smoothness and melodic flow of his master, albeit lacking in essential power. Other names of a later date are =Giovanni Legrenzi= (1625-1690), especially noted for spirit and vivacity, and =Antonio Lotti= (1667-1740), his pupil, known by one or two charming airs which still survive.

=Carissimi and the Oratorio=.—=Giovanni Carissimi= (1604-1674), though he never wrote for the stage, was the strongest musical influence of his day. He was an ardent admirer of the new school, and adapted it in the form of oratorios and cantatas to the Church. In such works the necessity for form as regards definite tonality, distinct rhythm and melodic sequence is naturally much greater than in the Opera where music is used to illustrate the dramatic situation, and is furthermore elucidated by the action of the play. When the ear alone is obliged to pass judgment there must be evidence of design in these particulars, else the effect is confused and bewildering. Carissimi’s musical instinct grasped this truth. His oratorios and cantatas show a logical arrangement of choruses and ensembles, recitatives and arias combined with a unity of effect and a clearness of characterization heretofore unknown. The choruses in particular are strongly rhythmic and far more dramatic than those which were commonly heard on the stage.

[Music: FROM “JEPHTHA” BY CARISSIMI.]

=Secularization of Church Music=.—This introduction of the new style into the Church marked the passing of the old school and strongly affected methods of dramatic composition. The public had never been in sympathy with the austere standards of the Florentine school and welcomed the appearance of _intelligible melody_ and the _spirited rhythms_ to which Carissimi gave the first direct impulse. Not only this; he fixed the form that the music of the Church was to bear for a century to come. This secularization of church music had its good and bad sides; good by reason of the greater freedom and variety of expression thus gained; bad because of the bold and mechanical imitation of Carissimi’s purely formal details by his successors, which in the end led to a tiresome monotony of style.

=Characteristics of the Venetian School=.—Thus was taken the first step toward the complete reversal of the conditions under which the early Opera had arisen. Instead of the music’s being subordinate to the drama, the drama was soon to serve merely as an excuse for the music; the opera was destined to sink to the level of a concert sung in costume; the dramatic action reduced to a minimum. The Venetian school marks the turning-point in this direction. The high ideals of Monteverde and his predecessors were gradually thrust into the background; the singer began to assume precedence over the actor; truth of _expression yielded_ to the fascinations of _time_ and _tune_, which even the musically uncultivated could enjoy without bothering their heads as to real dramatic fitness. Closely connected with these tendencies was the establishment of a school of singing which, if we may believe contemporary accounts, surpassed in technical facility and brilliancy any vocal art heard either before or since that time. The result was that singers finally regarded the opera only as a field for the display of their dazzling accomplishments and in this they were willingly supported by a public eager to be entertained and amused.

REFERENCES.

Apthorp.—The Opera, Past and Present.

Elson.—The History of Opera.

Grove.—Dictionary of Music and Musicians, article on Opera.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.

Who wrote the first oratorio? In what respects did an opera and an oratorio differ?

Give an account of Monteverde and his innovations in Opera.

What was the state of music in the 17th century?

Describe Monteverde’s first opera.

Describe Monteverde’s second opera.

What was understood by the terms Toccata, Ritornello?

What were Monteverde’s contributions to the Opera?

What change took place in the character of the Opera in the latter half of the 17th century?

Who were the prominent members of the Venetian school?

Give an account of Carissimi and his work.

Give a characterization of the Venetian school.

A short account of the Mysteries or Miracle Plays of the Middle Ages may be assigned to a pupil as special work. The Passion Play, still given today at Oberammergau, Germany, is a relic of the old-time religious plays.

LESSON XIX.

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI AND THE NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.

=The Neapolitan School=.—What in the Venetian school had been a _reaction_ in favor of _form_ and _melody_ became the established practice of the Neapolitan school. Political disturbances had hindered the spread of the Opera in southern Italy, particularly in Naples, but at the end of the 17th century it assumed the position formerly occupied by Florence and Venice. Before this, however, a strong influence had been exerted by certain composers in Rome, of whom Carissimi was first in importance. Had it not been for the disapproval of the Church, a definite Roman school might have arisen. Such a school would doubtless have been advantageous to the artistic growth of the Opera, since the public taste at Rome in matters of art was more serious in nature than at Naples. In 1697, public performances of opera were forbidden by the ecclesiastical authorities, and thus the seat of further development was transferred to Naples through the removal thither from Rome of =Alessandro Scarlatti= (1659-1725), the founder of the Neapolitan school. As a lad, he had been a pupil of Carissimi and also probably of Legrenzi, whose influence is clearly seen in his early works.

=Alessandro Scarlatti=.—Scarlatti invested his operas with a melodic charm and a symmetrical form which thus far had appeared only sporadically. Fascinated by the freedom of the new style, the early composers had neglected the severe study which had been indispensable to mastery in the Contrapuntal School, and had in the main relied on natural gifts. Following the ideal of Peri and his associates, their operas were largely a succession of recitatives which in the end grew monotonous and wearisome; of form, of structure, of purely musical effect they bore but slight traces. Scarlatti saw that the time had come for a change in style—one that should combine the musical interest of the old with the dramatic spirit of the new. The foremost musician of his time, he perceived the weakness of the exclusively declamatory opera—its lack of variety and want of appeal to the public in general.

=His Characteristics=.—He was not a reformer. He lacked the strong and rugged dramatic fibre of his predecessor, Monteverde. Scholarship; an inexhaustible fund of melody, pure, polished, refined; a gift of characterization—general, not particular, and always subordinate to a keen sense of beauty—are his distinguishing characteristics. He fell in with the taste of the day and devoted his gifts to the production of works which should satisfy the musician and please the public. The solidity of his early schooling had made him a master of counterpoint, and this he applied in the construction of logically worked-out accompaniments, fuller, richer and more expressive than had been attempted by his less learned contemporaries. In nobility of conception and skill in solving contrapuntal problems he often shows that he is not unworthy the name of the “Italian Bach,” as he is sometimes called. Like Bach, also, he was one of the most prolific composers of all times. He left one hundred and fifteen operas, sixty-six of which are still extant, more than two hundred masses, besides many miscellaneous works for church and concert, both vocal and instrumental.

=His Services to the Opera=.—To the simple recitative (recitativo secco), invented by Peri, he added the important form known as the _recitativo stromentato_ (accompanied recitative). This was not strictly original with Scarlatti, since it had been introduced by Purcell in his _Dido and Eneas_ ten years before the Italian had first used it in his opera _Rosaura_ (1690). There is no probability, however, that Scarlatti was acquainted with the Englishman’s works; it is a not uncommon matter for two minds to arrive independently at the same result. In the accompanied recitative, the voice, instead of being supported by detached (_secco_) chords on the harpsichord, sometimes with the addition of a single stringed instrument, as in the simple recitative, was accompanied by the entire orchestra, which had grown to proportions undreamed-of in Peri’s day. Vastly developed by the growth of orchestral resources, it is the distinguishing feature of the modern music drama. As a rule, however, it was but little used in Scarlatti’s operas or in those of his contemporaries. Interest in the drama, as such, was fast sinking to a negligible quantity; audiences assembled to hear their favorite singers, not to follow the course of a more or less involved dramatic action. The simple recitative was, therefore, more frequently employed in order to hurry through the necessary details of the play and reach the moment when the singer could delight by his art in the aria.

[Music: AIR FROM SCARLATTI’S OPERA “TURNO ARICINO”.]

=The Aria=.—Scarlatti was not the inventor of the aria or air for the single voice in the meaning of the term as applied to a certain fixed form. Other composers had used it before him in its essential principles, but he was the _first_ to _formulate_ it into a persistent _type_, which it retained for nearly a century, despite its undramatic character. The Scarlatti aria consisted of three parts: two contrasting sections, concluding with a Da Capo or repetition of the first, expressed by the formula A B A. The principle of Repetition as an element of form is now a commonplace, but at the time it was a novelty, and the emphasis given to it by the aria fascinated the public and made it the principal feature of the opera. More than anything else, it led to its degeneration. Singers found in the aria a means of displaying their technical skill; it became the canvas on which they embroidered the most astonishing _tours de force_. The art of acting almost disappeared from the operatic stage; the poise of body and voice required for such vocal efforts banished all but a few conventional gestures.